Sudan has agreed to allow 3,500 African Union troops into embattled western Darfur as a means of building confidence among civilians who, UN officials have repeatedly said, do not trust their own government authorities. Among other roles, the African Union monitors will be allowed to police the Sudanese police.
The agreement represents the most dramatic step taken by this government to comply with the demands of the UN Security Council. It is already under international pressure, most notably the threat of sanctions, should it fail to restore security in Darfur.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 1.5 million from their homes, mostly black Africans. It began in early 2003 with a rebel uprising that demanded greater political and economic rights for the long-oppressed west. The Arab-led government responded with violence, using its own military and arming private Arab militias.
The US has called the violence genocidal. The UN Security Council, in a resolution passed in September, charged a commission of inquiry with determining whether the violence in Darfur met the criteria for genocide.
The government's decision comes as the Security Council prepares to review a report on Sudan's progress by the secretary-general's special representative on Sudan, Jan Pronk. The swift expansion of African Union troops and the broadening of their mandate has been among his key demands.
"We need many thousands of African Union troops with a broad mandate, quick deployment, big numbers," Pronk said in an interview last week.
Until now, Sudan has opposed foreign intervention in security matters and allowed only a handful of African Union soldiers to monitor a cease-fire agreement; in the Darfur area roughly the size of France, there are 68 unarmed monitors and 308 armed troops to protect them.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Friday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said his government had asked the African Union to work with its security forces in Darfur "so that we will make sure that there is no violation of human rights, there is no killing, there is building of confidence."
"We need to expand their mandate and to give them more mandates: for protection, mandate for checking, mandate for investigating; and yes, they need such mandates," he said.
Adam Thiam, an African Union Commission spokesman in Addis Ababa, on Friday that deployment would begin as soon as possible. Both Nigeria and Rwanda have committed the necessary number of troops, but logistical support like trucks and helicopters remain an obstacle.
Pronk's spokeswoman, Radhia Achour, welcomed the government's move as a "major step forward."
The broadened mandate of the African Union would include monitoring the Sudanese police, but would fall significantly short of the authorization to protect civilians. That has not been discussed and is unlikely to be accepted by Sudan, UN officials have said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS